University of Göttingen expert receives honour for maths research

Mathematician and data scientist Dr Gilles Mordant at the University of Göttingen has received the prize for the Annual Contest (section mathematics) of the Royal Academy of Science, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium. The prize is 1,250 euros and was presented at the Academy in Brussels. The award has a long history: in 1769, the Austrian Archduchess Maria Theresa, as patron of the Belgian Academy, established this prize together with a prize for literature. Since then, the section has presented a topical scientific problem every year, and the prize is awarded for the best solution. Mordant answered this in 2022 with his contributions to transporting measures and statistical decision theory.



Mordant studied at the HEC Liège and received his PhD from the University of Louvain in Belgium in 2021. Since 2021, he has been conducting research on statistical data analysis methods using the theory of optimal transport at Göttingen University in the Collaborative Research Centre “Mathematics of the Experiment” in Professor Axel Munk’s group at the Faculty of Mathematics. “Building on my work in Belgium, I am developing new methods in Göttingen that help us to understand the spatially complicated arrangement of elementary building blocks of the cell and their interaction,” says Mordant. “Göttingen offers a unique environment for me to work on the whole spectrum of this challenge.”